Manager’s Message – June 2025

Navigating Wildfire Season

With wildfire season upon us, I want to take the opportunity to talk about our wildfire mitigation strategies.

Lane Electric works hard to improve our system’s reliability and resiliency. In 2025, large resiliency projects are taking place in McKenzie, South Eugene, and Oakridge. This includes undergrounding lines, installing electronic reclosers and insulated lines, deploying fire-hardened pole wraps, and managing vegetation. Electric reclosers, which act much like a circuit breaker in your home by shutting off power when there is an issue with the system, are being installed in our substations.

The cooperative’s vegetation management crews are also working to spot-trim areas of rapid growth while making their way through our annual cycle trim. Just as we’re preparing, we want our members to prepare as well. That is why we encourage members to create defensible space around homes. Check out our website for additional resources on how to protect your property and family from wildfire.

In addition to boots on the ground, Lane Electric recently met with our neighboring utilities—Emerald People’s Utility District, Eugene Water & Electric Board, Springfield Utilities Board, and Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative—to share lessons learned, updates to our wildfire mitigation plans, best practices, and more.

An exciting outcome was the pursuit of a common language around managing our systems during wildfire season. Wildfire safety settings are a term you’ll hear more about as we experience Red Flag days during the warm summer months. This means our lines operate at a higher sensitivity than usual, which could lead to intermittent outages.

In the coming weeks, we look forward to speaking with you directly about our efforts at community wildfire preparedness events in McKenzie and Oakridge. You can also learn more about Lane Electric’s wildfire and general operations by joining us for our annual meeting from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at Churchill High School in Eugene.

I hope to see you there.

General Manager Scott Coe